We talk to four Brits among the 81 per cent who can’t get their leg over until they’re legless
Some lovers turn to booze for a bedroom boost after being together years
DUTCH courage fuels a huge number of bonking Brits.
Eighty-one per cent say they feel too awkward to have sex with a new partner without the confidence-boosting power of alcohol, a study has revealed.
And 59 per cent admit that they enjoy sex more if they have had a drink first.
It is not just those looking for new lovers who need to get tipsy in order to tackle nerves.
Six per cent of women have NEVER had sex sober, the survey by dating app Temptr discovered.
Some lovers are so shy that they have to turn to booze before romping even after YEARS of intimacy with the same partner.
Here, The Sun talks to four people who explain why they need to hit the bottle before they hit the sheets.
Deidre Sanders also gives her expert view.
Alcohol gives me the confidence to chat up girls
JAMES FINCH
BRICKLAYER James Finch, 24, has always fuelled himself up for sex with drinking sessions – and that has not changed since he got a steady partner.
James, who lives in Langdon Park, East London, with nightclub worker girlfriend Lucie, 24, says:
“Until I met Lucie I was a bit of a Jack the lad and had quite a few one-night stands. Alcohol gave me the confidence I needed to go and chat up a girl.
“Initially it does make me feel much more horny, but as a bloke you have to be careful. If I had six pints I’d run the risk of ruining my performance."
“I drink beer or prosecco and in the past I have put quite a bit away before I feel ready for sex. I’m drinking less now I’m with Lucie, but we both drink before we have sex.
“I like women to have had a bit to drink because I find it takes away their inhibitions and you can try more adventurous things, like having sex outside and trying different positions.
“I met Lucie on Tinder, I think Tinder has an effect on people’s drinking and sexual habits because when you’re meeting someone brand new, it helps to have the Dutch courage of alcohol.
“A lot of people on Tinder are looking for sex, so when you hook up you know what’s going to happen and drinking helps things along nicely.”
Drinking makes me feel ready to show off body
NATALIE ALLEN
FULL-TIME mother Natalie Allen needs a few glasses of wine to switch from mum mode with baby son Star, one, to “adult” mode with her husband.
The 31-year-old has been with postal worker Ackeeme, 25, for four years.
Natalie, from Wellingborough, Northants, says:
“I’m on mum mode all day and often really tired, which completely destroys my sex life.
“To relax and put me in the mood I need a few drinks. I can’t remember the last time I had sex sober.
“I’ve always relied on alcohol to get me in the mood – it makes me feel really up for it. Drinking frees my mind.
“I’m very comfortable with my body – I don’t have any stretch marks or anything like that – and it is totally back to normal after giving birth.
“It’s just that drinking makes me feel ready to show it off.
“I’m not a heavy drinker, but having a few glasses of wine at the end of the day signals ‘adult time.’
“And once I’ve been drinking I also become much more experimental and adventurous.
“It makes me much more relaxed and able to have an orgasm.”
Without whisky I’d be so uptight
DIANA HOY
SHY Diana Hoy, 44, only ever has sex with factory worker husband Terry, 48, after a “good few whiskies” despite being together for 12 years.
The stay-at-home mum, from Sudbury, Suffolk, says she lost confidence in her body after having son Andrew, now 18.
Diana explains: “I’m embarrassed to say we only make love after we’ve both had a few drinks and feel very tipsy.
“Since I had my son I’ve had issues with my body. I don’t mind how I look in clothes, but when I’m naked I’m much more shy.
“Drinking before sex has become an unbreakable habit. When we start on the whisky it is almost the signal that we’ll make love.
“The drink makes me much more able to let myself go and enjoy having sex. If I didn’t drink we wouldn’t be intimate, I would be far too uptight and worried about my imperfections.
“Once I’ve felt the loosening effects of alcohol we have a great time. It doesn’t impair my husband’s performance.
“Terry and I have been together for 12 years, married for seven, and when you have been together for a long time I think you need the boost of alcohol to make sex exciting.
“It doesn’t impair my ability to have an orgasm. When I am drinking I believe it relaxes my muscles as well as my mind.”
Related Stories
Bubbly lets me do booty calls
SASKIA CLARKE
SINGLE Saskia Clarke, 33, relies on bubbly when hooking up with new – or old – lovers.
The website designer, from Retford, Notts, says: “I love drinking champagne and I’ve reached the point where I feel I cannot have sex without drinking first.
“It doesn’t worry me, I think most women drink before they make love.
“I’m currently single, so don’t have regular sex with a boyfriend but often hook up with an ex. If I’m drunk and in the mood I make ‘booty calls’ to him.
“I’d never have the confidence to do that sober.
“It’s much easier and more fun just to have drunken sex with him – and anyone else – when you are single.
“I’m not a huge drinker but once I’ve had a few glasses of wine or champagne I feel much sexier.
“If I haven’t had a drink, I worry too much. I’m actually quite prudish and feel embarrassed during sex if I haven’t had the relaxant of alcohol.
“Drink makes me giggly and enhances my pleasure. It allows me to let myself go, I do things I would never try if I was sober.
“I wouldn’t make love blind drunk as I’d never remember it, but I like it to put me in the mood.”
DRINK'S DANGEROUS PATH
BY DEIDRE SANDERS, SUN AGONY AUNT
ALCOHOL lowers our inhibitions but if you can only have sex after a few, you’re on a dangerous path.
Before long you’ll find you need one drink more to feel like snuggling up – then another.
Regularly overstepping the safe-drinking guidelines not only harms your health but affects blood supply to the vital areas, and therefore sexual responses.
And if your partner has so much to drink they could be thought to have been too far gone to give informed consent, you could even find yourself having a difficult conversation with the police.
So it makes sense to find other ways to get past our inhibitions. Massage is usually fail-safe.